Knit fabric



. KNIT FABRIC Joseph Rab, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner to Kayser-RothCorporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 7,1961, Ser. No. 94,018 Claims. (Cl. 66-202) This invention relatesgenerally to a jersey knit fabric which is provided with a plurality'ofspaced apart ribs extending outwardly from and walewise on one faceofthe fabric and more particularly to a fabric in which the l bodyfabric between the walewise ribs is formed of a textured syntheticstretchable yarn.

It is generally well known to produce various types of knit fabric bycombining plain, tuck and/ or welt or oat stitches. However, a jerseyknit fabric has not heretofore been produced by combining these stitchesto form a fabricvwhich has a plurality of spaced apart walewise UnitedStates Patent O ice face and the toats extending along the inner face ofthe fabric;

FIGURE 3 is a greatly enlarged elevation of a small area of the jerseyknit-fabric shown in FIGURE -1 with the fabric being stretched in acoursewise direction;

FIGURE4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3, however, in this view, the fabricris illustrated somewhat schematically in that the stitch loops havebeen substantially alined coursewise and walewise to more clearlyillustrate the manner i'n which' the fabric is formed.

base or body fabric, broadly indicated at 10, having a plurality ofspacedvapart walewise extending ribs, broad- Itis another object of thepresent invention to provide a knit fabric of the type described abovein which the body fabric is knitof relatively lightweight texturedsynthetic stretchable yarns and the walewise ribs onone face I are knitof a relatively heavyweight yarn and which knit fabric is stretchablewhereby the knit fabricl may be used inv the manufacture of many typesof wearing apparel, such as bathing suits, shirts, dresses or in theforming of the cuff and waist bands of knit sweaters and the like.

lIt is a further object of the present invention to provide a jerseyknit fabric' of the type described abovein which the body fabric yarnsand the yarns producing the walewise ribs rriay be different colors orthe yarns may be formed of different types of material so that their dyereceiving capabilities may be different-so that the walewise ribsmay bea different color than the color of the body fabric.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide ajerseyknit fabric of the type described above in which the stretchable yarnsare knit in groups of wales between the walewise ribs and formtucks-extending across the wales in which the ribs are formed while theribs are 'formed by stitch loops of the heavier yarn which are knit inspaced apart courses only and the stitch loops of the heavier yarn ineach rib wale are connected to the stitch loops of the heavier yarn'inadjacent rib wales by floats extending'across the inner face of thefabric and the medial-portions of these floats are knit in a centralwale of the groups of wales in which the stretchable yarns are knittoprovide a relatively smooth inner face on the fabric, as compared tothe ribbed outer face thereof.

` Some ofthe objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the' description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE l is a fragmentaryelevational view of the I ribbed or outer face of the jerseyknit fabricof the present linvention and showing the same in relaxed or unstretchedcondition;

somewhat schematically illustrating the stretchable base' fabric withthe outstanding walewise ribs on the outer ly indicated at 11. As shownin FIGURE 2, the ribs l1 stand out from the outer face ofthe base fabric10 and when the fabric is in relaxed or unstretched condition,

the ribs 11 are drawn close'together.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the stretchable b'ase fabric 10 is, formedof knit stitch loops of `relatively lightweight stretchable yarns,indicated -at S-l, S-Z and S-3, which form plain stitches in the walesbetween the wales in which the ribs 11 are knit. The lightweightstretchable yarns extend across the wales in which the ribs 11 are knitand form tucks, indicated at T, in these wales. The lightweightstretchable yarns are preferably formed of multilament thermoplasticsynthetic yarns which have been texturized by anyone of many Well knownprocesses to impart a permanent crimp or curl to the individualfilaments.

The walewise extending ribs 11 are formed of knit stitch loops ofrelatively heavyweight yarns Y which are knit in-spaced apart needlewales and iioated across and behind intervening needle wales.The'heavyweight yarns Y are preferably* non-stretchable and formed ofnatural fibers', such as spun cotton. However, it is to be understoodthat the yarns Y may be formedvof other types of natural or syntheticfibers and they may be stretchable or non-stretchable as long as theyare of a heavier weight` or denier than the yarns which form the basefabric 10.

One repeat of the fabric is shown in courses C-ll through C-14 and walesW-11 through W-14 of FIGURE 4 and any desired length and width of fabricmay be formedv by'repeatin'g the coursewise and walewiserepeat thedesired number of times. v

As shown in the schematic illustration of the fabric in FIGURE 4, thelightweight stretchable yarns S-l, S-Z and S-3 form stitch loops ingroups of successive courses C-11, C-12, C-13 and C-15, C16, C-17 and ingroups of adjacent wales W-8, W-'9 and W-ll, W-12, W-13 and W-,15, W-16and extend across and form tucks T in the single wales W`10 and W-14positioned between the groups ofadjacent wales. The heavyweight yarns Yform stitch loops in spaced apart single courses C-ll), C-14, C-18 andin alternate wales W-8, W-10,

W42, W-14, W,-16 of these courses. In these spaced.

apart single courses the yarns Y are floated across and behindintervening wales W-9, W-11, W-13, W-IS tol form floats F which 'extendalong the inner face of the base fabric 10 (FIGURE 2).

After the fabric has been finished, the stretchable yarns act to drawthe rib l1 together and the knit stitches of;r4

ythe yarn Y in wales W-S, W-12, W-16 and in course's C-10, C--14, C- 16do not appear on the outer face of.

. Patented.. 2,

Referring to FIGURE 1, it will be noted that the jersey' knit fabric ofthe present invention includes a stretchable` able yarns contract todraw the walewise extending ribs 11l together.r and contract the fabricin both coursewise vand walewise directions. Also, since the stretchnbleyarn contracts when relaxed, the tucks T of the lightweight ystretchable yarns try to straighten out, causing the -stitch loops ofthe non-stretchable heavyweight yarn Y in wales W-10, W'-14 to protrudeoutwardly on the outer face of the fabric and appear large and loose, ascompared to the stretchable yarn stitch loops of the body fabric 10.

The simulated rib fabric of thev present invention may` be economicallyproduced on a conventional circular jersey knitting machine which'isprovided with a plu- .rality of feeding and kni-tting stations inymultiples of four.4 In knitting the fabric on this type of circularknitting machine, the stretchable yarnsS-L S-2 and S-3 are fed to all ofthe needles at three consecutive respective knitting stations and plainjersey stitch loops are formed on groups of three successive needleswhile the stretchable yarns are tucked on every fourth needle. Thus,course C-11 is formed by feeding the yarn S-l to all of the needles at.a iirst feeding station. At this first feeding station, the needles inwales W-8, W-9, W-ll, W-12, W- 13, W-lS, W-16 are `lowered to formstitch loops while the needles in wales'W-ltl and W-14 pass vthisstation at tuck level and take the yarn S-1 in their hooks but do notform stitch loops therewith. At the second knitting station, the yarnS-Z is fed to the needles in the same manner as the yarn S-1 -to formcourse C-lZ 'and the yarn S-ll is fed to the needles at the thirdknitting station in thesame-manner as the yarns' S-l` and S`2 ,-to formcourse C-13. j

`At the fourth knitting station, the relativelyheavyweight-non-stretchable yarn Y isfed to and forms stitch 'loops inwales W8, W-10, W-l2, W-14, W-16 of course C-14. Thus, stitch loops arelformed on alternate needle'sat this fourth knitting station and theintervening needles are not raised high enough to receive the yarn Y intheir hooks. As the needles in` wales W- and W'14 are raised to shedlevel and then lowered to stitch drawing level, the tucks of yarns S-1,S-2, S-3

are shed as a stitch loop is formed in these Wales of course Cv-14.During the formation of course C-14, the needles in wales W-9, W-ll,W-l3, W- are raised to welt level and do not take the non-stretchableyarn Y in their hooksa-t this fourth knitting station so that the yarn Yis merelyfloated'inside of the fabric and behind the stitch loops inthese wales. The courses C-15 through C-18 are identical to the coursesC-11 throughC-M described above and are formed at the next foursuccessive'knitting stations on the-machine,

It has vbeen found that a very satisfactory fabric is produced byfeeding multilament nylon 40/2 denier nylonr stretch yarn, of the -typeknown as Helanca, at groups `ofthree consecutive feeding stations of an18-cut Supreme sinker top circular knitting machine while feeding twoends of 16/1 combed'cotton yarn at single feeding stationslocatedbetween thegroups of consecutive feeding stations at which thestretchable yarn -is fed. By using lightweight stretchable syntheticyarns to knit the body or base fabric 10 and a heavyweigh cotton yarn to.knit the walewise ribs 1-1, unusual coloring effects 'may be achievedby cross-dyeing or by using pre-dyed yarns of different colors. presentinvention may jersey knit plain fabric.

Although `a specific construction of knit fabric is disclosed as beingknit on a specific type of knitting machine, it is to be understood thatother constructions and other types of yarn may be utilized if desiredand the fabric may be knit on other types of knitting machines than thecircular machine described. For example, -a greater number of wales knitof the stretchable If desired, the fabric of the be produced in onlyportions of a yarns could be formed between the outwardly extend-v ingribs 11 formed of the heavyweight yarn. Also, although it is desirableto tie the iloats ofthe heavyweight yarn Y into thebase fabric betweenthe' ribs 1l, the iioats F of the yarn Y may extend from one rib 11 tothe nextl rib 11. without being interknit with the wales 'therebetweenAlso, the number of courses knit of lightweight stretchable yarn beforeknitting a course of heavyweight yarn maybe varied, asdesired.

The simulated rib jersey -knit fabric of the ypresent:

invention is useful -in formingmany Vtypes of garments and maybe knittubular or llat. The fabric is stretchable in both coursewise andwalewise directions and the walewise extending ribs impart a distinctiveand Ybulky appearance thereto.

In the drawings and specification Vthere has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and al-l though speciic terms are employed,they are used in4 ar generic and descriptive sense onlyand not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of theinve'ntion .being defined in theclaims.

I claim: A

1. A jersey knit fabric comprising a strebchavble body fabric andaplurality of spacedv apart walewise ribs extending outwardly from oneface of said body fabric, said` body fa-brici being knit of relativelylightweight stretchable yarns knit in groups of successive coursesandwales, said stretchable yarns being tucked in Ysingle walespositioned between said groups of successive wales, and said Walewiseribs being knit of relatively heavyweight yarns knit in said singlewales between saidgrou'ps ofsuccessive wales and in a single coursepositioned between ,each of said groups of successive courses'.

2. A jersey knit fabric comprising al stretchable body` fabric and aplurality of spaced apart walewiseribs extending outwardly fr'om one*face of said body fabric,

said body fabric being knit vof lcrimped multililament thermoplasticstretch yarns knit in groups of successive courses and wales, saidstretch yarns being tucked in single wales positioned between saidgroups of successive wales, and said walewise ribs being knit of cottonyarns knit in said single walesbetween said groups of successive walesand in a single course positioned between each of said groups ofsuccessive courses, said cotton yyarns being of a heavier weight thansaid stretch yarns.

3. A jersey knit fabric comprisiuga stretchable body fabric and spacedAapart ribs extending walewise on the outer face of said body fabric,said body fabric being knit of stretch yarns knit in spaced apart groupsof a predetermined number of successive courses and wales, said stretchyarns forming tucksextending. across single wales positioned betweensaid spaced apart groups of successive wales and in each course of saidgroups of successive courses, said walewise ribs being knit of a heavieryarn than said stretch yarns, said heavier yarn being knit inthe singlewales containing said stretch yarn Ytucks and in a single coursepositioned between each of `said groups of successive courses, and saidheavier yarn having floats extending lalong the inner face of said bodyfabric and between the single wales containing said stretch yarn tucks.

4.4 A jersey knit fabric comprising a stretchable body fabric and spacedapart ribs extending .walewise on the outer face of said body fabric,saidv body fabric being knit of stretch yarns knit in spaced apartgroupsv of a predetermined number of successive coursesy and wales, saidstretch yarns forming tucks extending across single wales positionedbetween said groups of successivey wales and in each course of saidgroups of successive courses,` said walewise ribs being knit of aheavier yarn than said stretch yyarns, said heavier yarn being knit inthe single wales con-` i v single wales containing said stretch yarntucks and the medial wales of said groups of successive wales. y

5. A jersey knit fabric comprising a stretchable body fabric and spacedapart ribs extending walewise on the outer face of said body fabric,vsaid body fabric being knit of stretch yarns knit in spaced apartgroups of three successive courses vand wales, said stretch yarnsforming tucks extending across single wales positioned between saidvthree-successive wales and in each of said three successivel courses ofsaid groups, said vwalewise ribs being knit of a heavier yarn than saidstretch yarns, said heavier I. yarn being'knit in the single walescontaining said stretch yarn tucks as Well as in the center wale of saidgroups of three successive wales and in a single course positioned inspaced apart groups of a predetermined number of successive courses andwales, said stretch yarns forming tucks extending across single walespositioned between said groups of successive wales and in each course ofsaid groups of successive courses, said walewise r-ibs being knit of acotton yarn that is heavier than said stretch yarns, said cotton yarnbeing knit in the single wales containing said stretch yarn tucks and ina single course positioned between each ofv said groups of successivecourses, and said cotton yarn having floats extending along the innerface of said body fabric and between the single wales containing saidstretch yarn tucks. j

7. A jersey knit fabricr comprising a stretchable body fabric and spacedapart ribs extending walewise on the outer face of said body fabric,said body fabric being knit of crimped'rnultifilament thermoplasticstretch yarns knit in spaced apart groups of a predetermined number ofsuccessive courses and wales, said stretch yarns forming tucks extendingacross single wales positioned between said groups of successive walesand in each course `of said groups of successive courses, said walewiseribs being knit of acotton yarn that is heavier than said stretch yarns,said cotton yarn being knit in the single v' tending along the innerface of said body fabric and between the single wales containing saidstretch yarn tucks vof crimped multifilament thermoplastic stretch yarnsknit 6 and said medialwale of said groups of successive wales. 8. Ajersey knit fabric comprising a stretchable body fabric and spaced apartribs extending walewise on the outer face of saidvbody fabric, saidvbody fabric being knit of crimped multilament thermoplastic stretchyarns knit in spaced apart groups of three successive courses and wales,said stretch yarns forming tucks extending across single walespositioned between said three successive wales and in each of said threesuccessive courses of said groups, said walewise ribs being knit of acotton yarn that is heavier than said stretch yarns, said cotton yarnbeing knit in the single wales containing said stretch yam tucks as wellas in the center Wale of said groups of three successive wales and in asingle course positioned between each of said groups of three successivecourses, and said cotton yarn having floats extending along the innerface of said body fabric and between the single wales containing saidstretch yarn tucks' and the center wale of said groups of successiveWales. v

9. A jersey knit fabric having a plurality of spaced apart walewise ribson one face therof, the stitch construction forming said walewise ribsrepeating every four vwales and every four courses, eachrepeatincludinga relatively lightweight crimped multifilamentthermoplastic stretch yarn knit in the first three wales and tucked inthe fourth wale of each of the first three courses, and a relativelyheavyweight cotton yarn knit in the second and fourth wales of only thefourth course and oated across the first and third wales thereof.

wales and every four courses, each repeat including a relativelylightweight stretch yarn knit in the first three wales and tucked in thefourth Wale of each of the first three courses, and a relativelyheavyweight cotton yarn' knit in atleast the fourth Wale of only thefourth course and floated across at least the firstl and third walesthereof.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 800,840 10/05lBlood 66-189 1,568,693 1/26 Rothman 66-198 1,961,636 6/34 Lawson 66-422,013,161 9/35 Lombaroi 66-201 2,045,776 6/36 Holt L. 66-42 2,183,86212/39 Davis 66--172l 2,429,187 10/47 Krasnov et al. 66-202 2,842,9477/58 Lindner et al. 66-202 2,872,800 2/59 Davis et al. 66-172 RUSSELL C.MADER, 'Primary Examiner.

1. A JERSEY KNIT FABRIC COMPRISING A STRETCHABLE BODY FABRIC AND APLURALITY OF SPACED APART WALEWISE RIBS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM ONEFIACE OF SAID BODY FABRIC, SAID BODY FABRIC BEING KNIT OF RELATIVELYLIGHTWEIGHT STRETCHABLE YARNS KNIT IN GROUPS OF SUCCESSIVE COURSES ANDWALES, SAID STRETCHABLE YARNS BEING TUCKED IN SINGLE WALES POSITIONEDBETWEEN SAID GROUPS OF SUCCESSIVE WALES, AND SAID WALEWISE RIBS BEINGKNIT OF RELATIVELY HEAVYWEIGHT YARNS KNIT IN SAID SINGLE WALES BETWEENSAID GROUPS OF SUCCESSIVE WALES AND IN A SINGLE POSITIONED BETWEEN EACHOF SAID GROUPS OF SUCCESSIVE COURSES.